John Mara Comments on Free Agency; Giants Won’t Pursue Adrian Peterson

John Mara – © USA TODAY Sports Images

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JOHN MARA COMMENTS ON FREE AGENCY…
New York Giants President and CEO John Mara weighed in on the following subjects with Newsday on Wednesday:

• On franchise-player defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul: “I heard him say (he won’t play on a 1-year contract), yes, and we’re trying to get a (long-term) deal done. We want to get him signed long-term, but we had to do that to protect ourselves. Hopefully, we’ll be able to reach an agreement, but I can’t say it’s imminent…(His franchise-tag contract is) a high number, but that doesn’t mean it has to be the average going forward. It ain’t gonna be that going forward…He’s an important part of our team. He played at a high level last year. He gave us a huge boost. Having him on one side and (Olivier) Vernon on the other gives us a nice pair of bookend pass rushers, so yeah, we’d like to have him back. Plus, he’s a positive influence. He’s a good young man, very popular (in the locker room). He’s the type of guy you want on your team.”

• On the Giants approach to free agency this offseason: “We’re obviously not going to be as aggressive as we were (last year). We just don’t have the salary-cap room, and you can’t do that every year. Putting the franchise tag on Jason takes a lot of our room away, but there’s still enough room for us to do some things if we want…We struggled on offense last year, but when you go into free agency, there has to be the right guys. I’m not sure the offensive line is the strongest group this year, so I don’t know.”

REPORT – GIANTS WON’T PURSUE ADRIAN PETERSON…
NJ.com is reporting that the New York Giants will not pursue unrestricted free agent running back Adrian Peterson (Minnesota Vikings) when free agency begins on March 7th. Peterson has expressed interest in the Giants but the 31-year old running back is on the downside of his career and has had off-the-field issues involving domestic abuse of a child.

ARTICLES…

• Giants will keep eye on quarterbacks at NFL Combine by Tom Rock of Newsday
• Giants spend quality time with Alabama TE O.J. Howard at NFL Scouting Combine by Pat Leonard of The Daily News